Damn That Mistletoe!
by Auriela
Summary: There are precautions one has to take during December to keep away from a certain Marauder...But what happens when the said Marauder has kept one up all night? Fluffy oneshot for Christmas in July.


**A/N**: Just a little fluffy one-shot inspired by all the reviewers for my longer fic, **Time To Discover**, who have been yelling at me about the lack of James and Lily kissing action nine chapters into the story…I wrote it very quickly and it's not brilliant, so forgive me for all of that, but I honestly do feel bad for holding out on all of you guys for so long. Enjoy, and please review to tell me what you thought.

**Damn That Mistletoe!**

When you have been going to school with James Potter for seven years, you start to take certain precautions. For example, whenever I'm in the Library, I always put a Shield Charm up around my table, so that he doesn't interfere with my studying. And when we have celebratory parties after Gryffindor Quidditch wins, I have learnt to keep a very tight hold of my own drink, in case he 'accidentally' pours Firewhiskey in it, in the hopes of getting me so drunk I'll fall into his arms and make all his erotic dreams come true.

But the most important precaution one needs to take is during Christmas. One can never afford to be sleepy during December, because that is when this Marauder is the slyest. And all because of a stupid weed that has all these crazy, immature connotations with it.

Mistletoe, my friends.

It is the one time when Potter attempts to get me close to him. Not just close – he tries to get me to snog him. It is the one time that he lurks under every single doorway when I pass, causing me to be late to every single class just so I don't have to set my lips on his. Because of his childish fantasy, I have to work out strategic plans through Hogwarts every night so I manage to avoid him the next day.

I'm very good at it. I've never been made to kiss Potter, not once – although there have been some close shaves. Like when Sirius told me a joke about a warlock, a dwarf and a goblin to try and get my attention away from the fact that I was passing under a mistletoe-d doorway. And when Potter and Black tried to levitate me over to where Potter was standing under a doorway, proudly pointing to the mistletoe, was not something I'd like to remember. Even Remus, the sanest Marauder, has attempted to persuade me to 'give in to James just this once'.

But this morning I know I'm in a vulnerable position. Potter was on patrol with me last night, and the dickweed wouldn't let up the mistletoe game. I was forced to spend two hours trying to get back to the Gryffindor tower without bumping through a doorway with the green leaves adorning the wood. It's like Potter can apparate, or something, he can appear from one place to another so quickly. Although that's physically impossible, according to _Hogwarts: A History_. But it does make you wonder…

Anyway, the git kept me up which means that I'm not as alert as I need to be.

'Please, Alice, you need to keep an eye out for the mistletoe, okay?'

My friend rolls her eyes. 'I happen to like mistletoe.'

'That's because you have a very lovely boyfriend who you like snogging. I would sooner kill myself than let Potter kiss me.'

'It's the last Christmas here, Lily,' she says as we walk (the long way) down to breakfast. 'Don't you think you could give in just once, to let him out of his misery?'

'Ah, no? What are you, mad?'

She shrugs. 'It was worth a try.'

I laugh. 'You're conspiring against me, Alice. The Marauders will be inducting you into their little group any time soon. It's the perfect set-up, having Lily's best friend in on Potter's hare-brained plans to snog me, because I happen to love you and agree to many of the mad things you say.'

'But you don't agree to let him out of his misery just this once.'

'I may be out of it, but I'm not that tired.'

And I do quite well during the first half of the day. I get to all my classes just a little later than I usually do during December. I manage to ignore Black flicking my hair across my face during Potions, much to Potter's delight. Coming back from lunch, all four Marauders bewitch all the knights along the corridor to sing _God Rest Ye Merry Gentleknights_ over and over again. And still I manage to hold out.

But I knew it was all too good to last.

I crack. Just before Charms I almost walk through a door with Potter planted firmly in the centre, and I blow up.

'Every single Christmas time you make my life a living hell, Potter!' I scream at him. Everyone in the corridor turns to watch us. 'Every year I am forced to take round trips just so I don't have to bump into you underneath that bloody weed.'

He stares at me.

'If you really do care about me, like you say you do, then you wouldn't be causing me this much hellish pain. Why can't you get it through your thick brain that I don't want to kiss you, and that I never will? Why can't you just bugger off just this once and let me be?'

He looks startled and is silent for a minute, as I at him, taking deep breaths and trying to regain control. Finally he nods his head. 'Okay, Lily.'

I glower at him.

He raises his eyebrows. 'I won't do it again.'

'You are so bloody infuriating, Potter!' I cry. 'You say that and I try to trust that you'll never do it again, but your word is worth nothing to me anymore. I can't trust a single thing you do or say.' I push past him through the door and up the staircase.

And although I thought I'd feel better after that crazy rant, I can't concentrate during Charms. We're learning a particular enchantment for our NEWTS and I still haven't got it by the end of class. Usually I'm brilliant with these sorts of things, and Flitwick says as much to me after the lesson. He gets me to stay back so I can practise until I do the charm right. I end up leaving the classroom an hour before dinner's due to begin. The corridors are deserted, and I can feel myself relaxing for the first time of the day. No James Potter wandering by my side constantly, ready to duck into doorways. There's just me and the last rays of sunlight drifting through the windows.

I smile to myself, turning through a doorway and whacking straight into a hard something. I'm so out of it I fall down onto my bum, wincing. I aim a glare at the person above me and begin to yell at them, but the sight of James Potter looking down at me with a half-smile on his face makes the angry look slip off my face and the words dry up in my mouth. My heart plummets.

He offers his hand to help me but I don't take it and scramble up, preparing to get the hell away.

'Lily?'

I turn around. 'Yes, Potter?'

He smiles slyly at me. 'I think you forgot something.'

I look above me and shake my head in resignation. The doorway, as I had feared, has a bloody piece of mistletoe attached.

'There's no way I'm kissing you, James, even though there is mistletoe here.'

He looks startled. 'I meant you forgot your wand, but…'

He's holding out the piece of wood I had been fumbling with before I had fallen over. I snatch it from him. 'Thanks,' I say quietly.

He shrugs. 'No problem.' He smiles at me and turns away to leave.

'What are you doing?'

Now it's his turn to look back at me. 'What do you mean?'

I stare at him, unable to believe what I am witnessing. 'For the past seven years you've been waiting to get me underneath a piece of mistletoe with you, but now you just don't care? You're going to let me go?'

'Maybe you've forgotten the little incident earlier today, Lily, but I haven't. I know that I've been a prick, trying to get you under one of these stupid weeds for the past seven years. I mean, the connotations of mistletoe are just absurd. Whoever thought making future generations kiss under little leaf-' He throws his hands up in the air. 'Crazy, I tell you.' I smile and look down at my shoes. 'And so…You said that if I really cared then I wouldn't do it. And I know you hate me for it, but I do. Care, I mean. So I'm willing to give it up. It is the last year and you deserve a break. There are just some things that you have to let go.'

I raise my eyebrows. 'I think that's one of the most mature things I've ever heard you say, Potter.'

He chuckles. 'Thanks.' He moves away and I find myself calling out to him.

'Wait.'

He stops but doesn't look back.

I walk around to face him, taking in a deep breath. 'Thank you, James.'

He could make a huge deal out of the fact that I have just used his first name, but he simply nods and remains silent, just watching me watching him.

Before I can think things through, I grab his tie and bring his face down, kissing him hard. I can feel his initial shock but then he begins to respond, his mouth moving against mine and making my knees weak. His glasses are digging into the bridge of my nose and it does cross my mind that I am snogging my worst enemy…But it doesn't matter. Even though I hate Potter with every fibre of my being, he sure can kiss a girl until she has no breath left and she never wants to let go…I shiver involuntarily as his hand gently tilts my face up before we break away from lack of air.

We breathe deeply, staring at each other silently. He leans in again and I close my eyes, feeling his lips brush against my forehead. They linger there and when he eventually does pull away I step away so that I don't have to do this anymore. So I don't have to keep thinking about the one guy I'd sworn never to like. This is James Potter, for Merlin's sake!

The sides of his mouth, red and raw, twitch up and his dimples appear as he watches me regain composure. The only thing he's ever wanted from me has just happened – and not because of him. Because of me. I initiated it, and he's never going to let me forget it.

I glare at him and storm away, silently cursing him and his good looks and of course, that evil weed.

Damn that mistletoe!


End file.
